An investment page is a lot more than just explaining your sessions through the number of photos included, the number of hours it will take, and how much it is. Your investment page is meant to describe your sessions and convince inquiring customers to book you through conveying your value as a photographer.
Along with conveying your value, there are a few other key ingredients to building a successful investment page: From the design and structure of it to the fine details, you should consider how your customers will view and interact with every part of your investment page when creating it. Ask yourself “Is this easy for my customer to understand?” and “Is it easy for my customer to find the information they need?”.
At Focal, we call them “sessions” rather than “packages” because when photographers create “packages,” they only explain the numbers: number of photos included, number of hours, and how much it costs. However, a “session” sounds like a valuable experience. Our session templates encourage photographers to do this: convey the value of your skills and describe the session for your customers to envision.
Don’t build an investment page with sessions that are a “one size fits all” for the different types of photography you offer. Rather than creating “Package #1,” “Package #2,” and “Package #3,” create a “Family Adventure Package” or a “Newborn + Family Package.” Be specific and create individual sessions that speak directly to your target audience, and that convey details that they need and care about. Make sure you include plenty of photos directly related to each package, as well as every piece of information your customer might need to make the decision to book you.
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Focal’s package templates are designed to convey value and offer customers detailed descriptions of your sessions. They do this by encouraging photographers to add what is included in each package, what the customer can expect when they book you, FAQs, as well as your policies that act as a stand-in contract. Our brand new design for photographers’ storefronts and packages is on its way, and will allow photographers to convey all this in a simple yet attractive way (see our mockup design above!). It’s important to keep things simple and user-friendly for your customers so they aren’t frustrated trying to navigate your website in order to figure out who you are and what you offer.
Is your family package for big, extended families, or is it for immediate family? Is your newborn session just for the newborn, or is it a good chance for the mom, dad, and siblings to jump in as well? If you explain who the session is for in your description, it avoids customers contacting you about it, only to realize they are not the ideal customer for it. It saves both you and your customer time and energy. So, when creating your investment page and each session, consider who it is for; then write this down and incorporate that into the description of it.
The main goal of your investment page is to convey the value of your sessions in order to convince inquiring customers to book you. You need to convey this because it is how you will justify the price of your services. Picture this: you are a customer browsing your website and you see that the photographer (AKA you) offers a family session. However, there isn’t too much information about what is included in it. You know that the session is one hour long and includes 20 photos for $400, but that’s a lot of money for what seems like only a little return! You wonder if it is really worth it.
Now, imagine if the photographer described the session in more detail. Imagine if they explained that they will take you to this popular park that is known for its colourful leaves during fall and as a great place to take your kids. They explain that the photos will look natural rather than staged, capturing the sweet in-between moments between you and your family. Now, doesn’t that justify the price a bit more? By conveying the value and describing the experience, it makes it easier for your customer to envision their session and understand why it costs $400.
After conveying the value and justifying the price of your services, the next step is to make it easy for your customers to book you. This seems obvious, but oftentimes, photographers treat their websites like an art gallery rather than a store. There are a lot of things that they offer, yet they seem intangible whether it is because there is no price tag attached to the sessions or because there is no clear way to purchase their services
Luckily, this is a simple fix: you can make it easy to book you by adding call-to-action buttons all over your page that encourage your customer to take action. Whether the button says “Book Me” or “Contact Me,” as long as it offers a simple and direct way for customers to book you, it serves its purpose. You don’t walk into a store to buy something, only for there to be no clerks or checkout area. The call-to-action buttons act as the checkout area, which is why it is crucial to include them on your investment page! I also recommend placing at least two or three on your investment page or at least one on each session page. But, the more the better! However, at the same time, you don’t want to overwhelm them. If it is easy to see and easy to click, it will be easy for them to book.
Those are 5 tips for building a photography investment page, and some things to keep in mind while creating it.
If you are worried that “conveying your value” means writing paragraph on paragraph about yourself and your services, don’t worry! You can convey your value in just a few sentences; it doesn’t have to be a novel. I recommend keeping the length of your package descriptions between three sentences and a paragraph. However, feel free to add more if you have lots to say!
For inspiration when trying to discover your unique value as a photographer, check out our blog post all about finding it by clicking the button down below!
